State and Regional Convergence in Economic Freedom of North America

This research determines the equality of the means and convergence of economic freedom of North America for U.S. states and regions between 1981 and 2014 as classied by BEA. The source of data is Economic Freedom of North America 2016, published by the Fraser Institute. The response variable is the Economic Freedom Index. The equality of the means is assessed both on the basis of time and region using a two-way analysis of variance for both among the states and among the BEA regions. The evidence suggests the means of the economic freedom index diers by states and over time, as well as the regions and over time. The convergence is determined using the absolute -convergence. There is evidence of an overall convergence, as well as decennial convergences among states, although the rates are dierent for dierent periods. The results for the regions are mixed, and there is some evidence of convergence for some periods, but for most periods there is no evidence of convergence or divergence.